Creative Photoshop CS4 Digital Illustration and Art Techniques - phần 4 pps

Click and drag from the center of the explosion on the ink drawing outward, creating a new radial gradient within the selection on the new layer.. 2 Click the Load Path as a Selection bu

6 When you hit upon a theme that you like the look of, you’ll want to export it

to the Swatches palette, or at the very least you’ll want to save it Both of these options are available at the bottom of the Create section of the Extensions palette

If you’re feeling generous, there’s also a button there to upload your theme to Kuler online Clicking that button will launch your designated Web browser You can sign in there and save your theme Kuler is an excellent tool for working with and developing harmonious color themes However, it is merely an option If you find it more intuitive to choose colors on the fly from the picker, so be it However,

if you decide to use Kuler, I suggest you export your themes to the Swatches palette and access the colors from there It is a nice storage area for colors However, to keep things organized you may want to clear the Swatches palette before adding your custom color themes to it This process is outlined in depth

in Chapter 1

Chapter 8: Coloring Comic Art

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PART THREE: Adding color

7 Use the Rectangular Marquee tool to draw a rectangular selection border that surrounds the background of the

main panel, but does not stray beyond the black border Click on the Foreground Color swatch in the toolbar and

choose a teal color from the picker Next, click on the Background Color swatch and choose a green background

color from the picker Select the Gradient tool In the Tool Options bar, choose the Foreground to Background preset

and enable the linear method Drag from the top of the selection to the bottom while holding down the Shift key

8 Create a new layer and then select a much lighter blue foreground color from the picker Switch the

gradient method to radial and choose the Foreground to Transparent Gradient preset in the Tool Options

bar Click and drag from the center of the explosion on the ink drawing outward, creating a new radial

gradient within the selection on the new layer Choose a muted green foreground color from the picker and

change the gradient method to linear Click and drag from the bottom left corner of the selection inward a

little to change the color of that area Deselect

Part One: Drawing and Painting

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9 Select the Magic Wand and target the black

line work layer in the Layers palette Enable the

Contiguous option and disable the Sample All

Layers option in the Tool Options bar Leave the

tolerance set at 32 Click inside a “ KA-CHOOM ”

letter to select that area Then hold down the

Shift key and click inside each remaining

letter, adding those areas to the selection

Create a new layer and drag it beneath the

current layer Select a bright yellow foreground

color and fill the selection with it on the new

layer Repeat the procedure again to select and

fill the area surrounding the letters with orange

PART FOUR: Defining regions and graduated fills

Manually filling areas with color

To create more areas of solid color, we’ll need to use the Brush tool and the Eraser together, as there are no more closed blackboundaries

1 Deselect and choose the Brush

tool Choose one of the hard, round

Brush presets from the Brushes Preset

picker in the Tool Options bar Specify

a diameter of around 10 pixels and

choose a bright green foreground color

2 Set the opacity and flow to 100%

in the Tool Options bar Use the brush to paint color into areas of the leprechaun’s clothing on the current layer Increase or decrease the diameter as required Feel free

to stray outside of the lines

3 Use this method to paint different colors into remaining areas of the leprechaun as well as the rocks Select the Eraser tool Set up the tip and options like your brush, and erase any painted areas that extend beyond the outlines Increase or decrease the diameter as required

Chapter 8: Coloring Comic Art

Create shaded areas

Use the Gradient tool within path-based selections to add highlights and shadows to the artwork

2 Click the Load Path as a Selection button in the Paths palette and select the Gradient tool Select the Foreground to Transparent preset and the Radial option Choose a light green foreground color, then click and drag within the selected areas

to add graduated highlights to the leprechaun’s clothing

3 Because the Lock Transparency option is enabled, only painted pixels are affected ensuring that the new highlights don’t stray beyond the figure’s edge Use this method to add highlight and shadow areas all over the leprechaun Vary the gradient colors and also create smaller, bright yellow highlights within existing highlights

1 Enable the Lock Transparency

function for this layer in the Layers

palette Select the Pen tool Set it to

create paths and enable the Add to

Path Area function in the Tool Options

bar Draw a series of path components

to indicate highlight regions on the

leprechaun’s clothing It is fine if

the path components extend beyond the

edge of the leprechaun’s color fill

12 Select the Gradient tool and enable the linear method Choose a red foreground color and drag from the bottom of the selection upward to create a red to transparent gradient inside the letters Next, use the Magic Wand to select the orange outline color and then add a similar gradient into that area Finally, use the Pen tool to draw a series of path components indicating small sharp highlights within the letters Load the path as a selection and fill it with white Deselect and then use the Pen tool to create a series of path components within the water, defining regions of shadow.

Envision light sources

Take a good look at the ink drawing

before you begin adding any shadows

or highlights on separate layers In

this drawing, the explosion areas will

provide the brightest light Therefore,

for example, the leprechaun should

have all his highlight areas based

upon which side of him is facing the

light source That means his front is

brightly lit and as a result of this, the

shadow areas need to be created on

his backside It is very important that

you examine the art and make a mental

note of the lighting situation before you

proceed with shading, otherwise the

results will be unsatisfactory

Chapter 8: Coloring Comic Art

Create a hand-painted selection

In Quick Mask mode you can create a complicated selection border by painting with the Brush tool This creates a temporary channel which loads as a selection when you exit

1 Create a small selection in the explosion area using the Lasso tool Click on the Quick Mask Mode button in the toolbar Immediately, you’ll see that the surrounding areas are covered with a red overlay This indicates masked areas Removing the red overlay from certain areas creates selected areas when you exit Quick Mask

2 Select the Brush tool and choose a hard, round Brush preset Set the opacity and flow to 100 and hit the “ x ” key to switch the background color, which is white, to the foreground color Carefully paint with white

to create selected areas of the explosion and crackle effect Increase and decrease the size of the brush as required

3 You’ll likely end up removing the overlay

in certain areas accidentally To remedy this, simply paint over those areas using black to mask them once again You’ll find yourself unmasking and masking, back and forth, until your temporary Quick Mask is complete, looking something like this

15 Click the Add Layer Mask button in the Layers palette to mask the new layer Select the Gradient tool and a black foreground color Within the mask, create a series of radial, black to transparent gradients to soften any hard edges you wish

to blend into the background Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-click on the layer’s thumbnail (not the mask), to load a selection from the layer’s contents Use the Lasso tool to circle the word area while holding down the Shift key so that the new selection includes the words too Choose Select  Modify Contract from the menu and shrink your selection just like you did earlier with the lettering

Do not be alarmed

I know at this point we’re including

the letters in our selection that you

meticulously masked previously to

ensure that they would not be included

But do not fret All of that work was

not a waste of time We’ll be using the

fruits of your Quick Mask labors shortly

to mask a group of layers, revealing

the words once again and staying true

to the spirit of what you created within

your mask

Chapter 8: Coloring Comic Art

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16 Create a new layer and ensure that it is targeted in the Layers palette Select

the Gradient tool and use it to create numerous radial, foreground to transparent

gradients within the active selection on the new layer Use a variety of yellow and

very light yellow foreground colors Change the blending mode of the layer to

overlay, deselect, and create a new layer Select the Brush tool Choose a large,

round, soft Brush preset Paint light yellow into the area at the center of the

explosion and into the area surrounding the leprechaun’s hands on your new layer

17 By now you’ve become very good at creating path components So go ahead

and draw some path components inside the explosion area that add detail, and also

create horizontal streaks going across the lettering Load the path components as

selection borders and fill them with radial, foreground to transparent gradients

on another new layer Use an orange foreground color for some areas, and use

gold and yellow for others Also don’t be afraid to add smaller, different colored

gradients on top of existing ones Deactivate the selection when finished

Selecting path components

Generally, when loading selections from paths, I recommend that no single path component be selected so that the resulting selection is based upon all of the path components However, when adding gradients into selections, especially when working with more than a single gradient, you may wish

to generate a selection from only select components within a path and not all of them Use the Path Selection tool to select the components you’d like to load as a selection With your components selected, load the path

as a selection The resulting selection will be based upon the selected components only

Part One: Drawing and Painting

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18 With your current layer targeted in the

Layers palette, hold down the Shift key and

click on the lowest explosion layer This targets

both layers as well as all layers in between,

effectively targeting all of your explosion

layers Type Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-g to

group them Expand the group and Control(PC)/

Command(Mac)-click the bottom layer to load

a selection from the layer’s contents Target

the group and then click on the Add Layer Mask

button at the bottom of the Layers palette Once

again, your words that were originally masked,

as well as the leprechaun’s arms, become

clearly visible Collapse the group

Embellish the explosion

Continue to work on your explosion outside of the masked group, adding bursts of light and hot centers

1 Use the Pen tool to draw a series of path components to represent streaks of light emanating from the large explosion’s center Load the path as a selection and add radial, light yellow

to transparent gradients into the selection on a new layer

2 Deactivate the selection and create another new layer Use the Gradient tool, with the current options and foreground color,

to create a small radial gradient over top of the leprechaun’s hands on the new layer Reduce the opacity of the layer slightly

3 Target the black outline layer and enable the Lock Transparency option Select the Brush tool Use a soft, round Brush preset to paint over areas on this layer that are at the center of both explosions Use red and orange foreground colors as you paint

Chapter 8: Coloring Comic Art

to draw a series of path components in these regions Load the path as a selection and choose a blue foreground color that is quite different from the background

Add streaks of color

Use the Gradient tool to add different colored streaks into the background; then mask your layer to avoid covering any main elements and to soften the effect

1 Create a new layer and drag it below

the black line art layer Set the blending

mode of this layer to color and then use

the Gradient tool to add large, radial,

foreground to transparent gradients

into the active selection on this layer

3 Target the new layer mask in the Layers palette Select the Gradient tool and set the foreground color to black Create black to transparent, radial gradients within the mask to gently blend the layer contents into the background in the image center

a number of new layers containing the artwork for the inset, text box, and speech bubbles Fill selections with color and gradients Paint and erase to fill specific areas with solid colors Fill path-based selections with gradients to add highlights and shadows When you’re finished, add all of these layers to a second group.

21 Now that your comic book art is complete, it does not mean that you cannot make further adjustments Simply expand either group to access individual layers and masks I added a mask to the layer that contained the explosion streaks, and used it to soften the effect in areas where they overlapped the tentacles However, this is just one example of what can be done Take a good look at the illustration and feel free to edit and embellish the way you like

Chapter 8: Coloring Comic Art

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Where to go from here

This file is built in a way that lends itself to further editing By separating the color methodically on layers, it is easy to insert adjustment layers in-between these things within the Layers palette As you can see here, a few carefully inserted and masked adjustment layers can begin to change the overall feeling I am relying mostly upon hue/saturation adjustments here However, the bottom image uses an invert layer as well It is interesting to note that a yellow/green background makes the explosion seem like it is even brighter, really illuminating the scene Also noteworthy is the effect that the invert layer has on the white border By surrounding the image with black, the content suddenly seems more ominous

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PART TWO

Unconventional

Methods

Chapter 9: Antique Effects

W hen you look at this image, the last thing you’re likely to think of is a hairdryer

I imagine that proves true with a thermal fax machine as well However,

as weird as it may sound, those two very things are essential ingredients in creating the antique sketch effect you see here Alongside Photoshop, unlikely and technologically inferior tools can prove quite useful when you’re trying to create an

authentic antique effect

When you think about very old works of art like the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, it isn’t just the beauty of the drawings and the subject matter that captures your attention Equally beautiful is the process of age itself Paper turns color over the years It becomes stained by moisture It is affected by environmental factors, and edges become darkened from centuries

of handling There is a certain beauty in the randomness of these tactile signs of age, and it is randomness that is often overlooked in the all-too-perfect world of digital art

I honestly can’t tell you what made me do it But one day I just tried using a hairdryer on some blank thermal fax paper The heat forced it to darken around the edges and bleed inward

on the page The first thing that came to mind was the darkened edges of very old documents and drawings I looked at it longer and began to ponder the usefulness of the black-and-white burn effect before me I immediately began thinking of alpha channels and how they translate grayscale data into selection borders And just like that the idea was born.

A familiarity with all things layers will be benefi cial in terms of ease while working your way through this one Alpha channel experience is helpful, but not required Also, if you’ve got some experience drawing paths with the Pen tool, it’ll make things easier for you

Part Two: Unconventional Methods

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What you’ll learn in this chapter

Creative Techniques and Working Methods

Bringing the real world into alpha channels

In this chapter, I’ll reveal everything you need to know to get your thermal fax machine and

hairdryer working for you as creative tools You’ll learn to use these tools to produce the

random and tactile raw materials essential to the antique effects you see here By the end of it,

you’ll master the art of using real-world black-and-white art as the content of alpha channels

You’ll make selections from those channels, and you’ll make fantastic multilayered Photoshop

masterpieces from those selections

A modular approach

If you look at the main illustration at the beginning of this chapter, you’ll notice that it contains

three different illustrations on three separate pages The overall feel from page to page is the

same, yet the content of each drawing is different As you work your way through this chapter, you’ll

develop an understanding of the modular approach I take when creating an illustration like this It

begins by creating the art on a single page A number of layers and resources are used Then all

elements are grouped and masked Taking this process as your cue, you’ll run through the paces

repeatedly, adding art to different areas, using exactly the same methods over and over Not only

will you see the inherent logic within this technique, you’ll also pick up speed as you move along

Photoshop Tools, Features, and Functions

Alpha channels

These are essential tools for bringing the sketches and thermal fax pages into the artwork Not only are they crucial for this integration, but also an understanding of what alpha channels are capable of is partially responsible for the inspiration for this chapter

Layer blending modes

The antique effect is created across a series of layers that work together Some are originals and some are duplicates Opacity and blending modes vary But what is truly exceptional here is the overall effect that can be achieved when a diverse set of blending modes work together while stacking up layers

Vector masks

While building up effects on layers, you can spend your energy concentrating on the textural feeling itself rather than accuracy Take comfort in the fact that after you’ve created just the right layer effect, you can neatly trim the group with a layer mask so that it doesn’t stray beyond the edge of the page

to convey the subtle fact that we’re working digitally as well

1 The first step is to print out all of the original

sketches Then, take the printed sketches to a

thermal fax machine One at a time, insert each

sketch into the thermal fax machine and press

the Copy button This will make an exact copy

of your original sketch on thermal paper In

addition to copying your sketches, make a few

copies of a blank piece of paper, simply to get a

couple of blank thermal pages as well

2 Tape one of your blank pages to a wall or another flat surface Plug in your hairdryer and ensure that it is set to the hottest setting Activate the hairdryer and move it close to the paper Immediately you’ll begin to see the paper darken when the hot air hits it Use this technique to darken the blank sheets of thermal paper around the edges only These will be used later to create a dark edge effect on the pages within the illustration

Project files

All of the files needed to follow

along with this chapter and create

the featured image are available for

download on the accompanying Web

site in the project files section Visit

www.creativephotoshopthebook.com

The initial sketch files can be found

there And for those of you who don’t

have access to a thermal fax machine,

hairdryer, or simply want to focus on

the Photoshop work in this chapter

only, all the scanned thermal pages are

included in this folder

Chapter 9: Antique Effects9

3 Now tape your thermal copies of the sketches

to the wall or another flat surface When using the hairdryer on these, concentrate on burning the centers of each page Try moving the hairdryer back and forth quickly It is fine if the image becomes obscured by the burn effect You’ll notice the paper will ripple slightly and the high points of the ripples will be darkest

4 Open up the background.jpg file This shot was carefully set up on an antique

wooden trunk to lend a sense of authenticity to the final result The pages you

see here are already looking a bit aged The corners are rounded slightly and the

pages are a bit darker around the edges Notice how the empty pages are set up to

overlap each other Each page will provide the background for one of the sketches

and have an antique effect applied to it

Fax quality

Most fax machines, even old thermal ones, will have a number of quality settings to choose from The best quality is not necessarily required for what we are doing here When you are copying your sketches to thermal paper, experiment with a variety of settings What you’re after is something that, although it may omit lighter details from the sketches, copies the majority

of the artwork so that it is dark and legible The scans included on this CD were copied on an old fax machine using the medium-quality setting, which provided the clearest result

Part Two: Unconventional Methods

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5 If you’ve done your own thermal effects using

the hairdryer and copies of the illustrations,

the next step is to scan each piece of paper

Envision the destination of each sketch within

the background and actually rotate your pages

on the scanner to approximate the angle before

you scan them You can rotate them in Photoshop

later if necessary, so don’t worry about being

too accurate Also, scan your blank pages with

the thermal effects applied to them

PART TWO: Incorporating the first drawing

Scanning and tonal adjustments

If you’re scanning your own burned

thermal fax pages, ensure that they are

scanned and saved in grayscale mode

This isn’t absolutely necessary, but it

is helpful as the scans are destined

for alpha channels Also, it would be

ideal if you could adjust your scanner

driver preferences so that an automatic

tonal adjustment is performed ensuring

that the white backgrounds within

your files contain 0% black If you

don’t have this option, simply perform

a very quick tonal adjustment via the

Brightness/Contrast option in the

Image ⬎ Adjustments menu

is for color to indicate masked areas Change this so that color indicates selected areas instead When you click OK, you’ll immediately notice that the red overlay disappears from the image window as the background of your alpha channel becomes white instead of black.

8 With your alpha channel targeted, choose Edit ⬎ Paste from the menu You’ll

notice the colored areas within the pasted sketch appear as a red overlay in the

image window Choose Edit ⬎ Free-Transform from the menu Hold down the Shift

key while you drag a corner point inward to reduce the size of the pasted art

proportionately Move the mouse pointer to the outside of the bounding box until

it changes to indicate rotation Click and drag to rotate the contents to the same

angle as the large page Click in the center of the box and drag it onto the main

page to position it

Select, copy, and paste

As you add sketches and scanned thermal effects into each channel, you’ll

be doing a lot of copying and pasting Therefore, it is beneficial to familiarize yourself with some keyboard shortcuts:

• Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-a is “ select all ”

• Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-c is “ copy ”

• Control(PC)/Command(Mac)-v is “ paste ”